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Episode 1474: The 2020 Minor League Free Agent Draft
Date December 24, 2019 Summary Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley discuss the signings of Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel, the Blue Jays’ historic 2019 rotation, the depleted pitching market, MLB’s rising revenue and the continued strength of spending on free agents, Jake Odorizzi and the qualifying offer, Nick Senzel’s switch to Scott Boras, and Rich Hill’s arrest(!), then conduct the seventh annual Effectively Wild Minor League Free Agent Draft, selecting 10 minor league free agents each and competing to see whose roster will accumulate the most combined MLB playing time in 2020. Topics * 2020 Effectively Wild Minor League Free Agent Draft Intro Chance The Rapper, "Get a Bag" Episode outtake sound clip (Meg opening a box from her Grandma) Outro Paul Weller, "Bag Man" Banter * Dallas Keuchel and Hyun-Jin Ryu signed contracts, taking the remaining top free agent pitchers off the market. * Sam breaks the news to Ben and Meg that Rich Hill and his wife were arrested on Saturday after trying to bring an oversized bag into a NFL game. * Sam excitedly gives an update on the Episode 1455 free-agent contracts draft. Sam currently has a $300 million lead. * Given the recent surge of free agent signings, there is discussion about whether Jake Odorizzi regrets signing a qualifying offer with the Twins. * Following up to an Episode 1470 discussion about players switching to Scott Boras, Nick Senzel switched to being represented by Scott Boras. * MLB announced a record-breaking revenue of $10.7 billion in the 2019 season. Draft Selections Notes * Previous minor league free agents drafts were in Episodes 326, 607, 809, 994, 1166, and 1315. * Minor league free agents have more than 6 years of minor league service time who are not on a 40-man roster. * The winner of the draft is the person who has players with the most combined MLB plate appearances or pitcher outs. * Jeff Sullivan won the previous draft with a record breaking 1,640 plate appearances/batters faced. The record low is 98 by Ben in the first draft. * Sam and Ben are impressed at Meg's level of preparedness for the draft. Meg says she was "nervous about bringing shame on her family." Sam says he is intimidated. * Ben is concerned about his pick of Alexander Guillen since he can't find any recent updates about Guillen online. * After six rounds, Meg goes into a quiet panic because none of the remaining players on her list are very good. Sam teases her, "There are five rounds to go!" * Sam admits that he doesn't go strictly in the order he decided upon before the draft started. He'll feel inspired to select a player lower down on his list, and then when a player higher on his list is picked by someone else, he'll spuriously complain, "I was going to pick that guy!" This famously happened a few years ago when Sam had the first pick and didn't select his top choice. Later, that player was chosen by someone else, and Sam complained, "I was going to pick that guy with my first pick!" even though Sam had the first pick and didn't pick that player. * Sam is surprised that the Astros have just two minor league free agents; most teams have closer to 15. * Mickey Jannis is listed at 5' 9". After looking for a pitcher who is that short they find that Marcus Stroman is listed at 5' 7". Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1474: The 2020 Minor League Free Agent Draft * Minor League Free Agents list * Jordan Weems duck photo * Effectively Wild Competition Leaderboard Category:Episodes Category:Draft Episodes